Julia Reda, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group.
– Mr President, at the outset of the Commission’s efforts to tackle geo—blocking, research showed that digital borders were widespread in the EU, that they cost businesses millions in sales and that people supported decisive action against them. A very important and popular topic indeed.

This week we are voting on the second of three legislative actions on the issue, but all three have turned out to be no more than baby steps, merely carving out exceptions for certain groups of people in certain situations. After they are implemented, geo—blocking will remain widespread. That is a missed opportunity.

I applaud all the steps forward that have been taken in this legislation, and I thank the rapporteur Róża Thun for her efforts to make it even more ambitious, but I deeply regret that these efforts were shot down by the governments in Council and that, as a result, digital media, like video games, e—books or music, will be unaffected by this regulation, and that fear prevailed over the commitment to building a true digital single market, which cannot develop until we abolish digital borders and not just reduce them.